Wonderful World (2009)

It's hard to listen to Louis Armstrong's "It's a Wonderful World" and not feel a mixture of happiness on one side because of the beauty of the music, and pain on the other because of just how much of the world that has been revealed to us as being anything but "wonderful".The title for this movie is "Wonderful World", but the version I saw on Netflix I believe was "Happiness", or something to that effect.Yeah, well, neither of those titles actually fit THIS film.Matthew Broderick lost something when he turned to adulthood. Maybe he got too serious. Maybe he got too much money, early on. Maybe nobody wants to push him anymore as an actor, for some reason. Whatever it is, Matthew Broderick left his best work back in the years when he was Ferris Bueller. Since then, I feel nothing when I watch him on film, because he never brings the punch when he acts anymore. The closest I saw in this movie was when he was playing guitar in the music shop (at least I THINK it was a music shop. Maybe a diner? You know, I just don't remember. It was a social gathering where he played guitar, okay?) and even in that scene he didn't do much.In this movie, we see him being a man with a chip on his shoulder. He's frustrated with the world, distrustful of others, loving to his daughter and eventually his room-mate's sister once she comes to check on her sibling, and plays guitar pretty good, enough to publish a CD but not enough to make it big, I guess? The constant plot devices dropped on you like bombs throughout the film are manipulative, pushing your emotions in different directions while also twiddling with the laws of logic—you think he's going to win, finally, when he sues the tow truck company for not helping his friend when his life was in danger. You even have the set-up of the imaginary man that Broderick is speaking to on the bench, suggesting that maybe this will actually work (though it is never clear as to WHY he's there, or if he's anything more than just a bad drug trip, considering Broderick's most constant hobby is smoking weed). When it doesn't, it's just a reinforcement of the constant stream of depressing events that, well… Make you understand why this guy has a chip on his shoulder.He loses his best friend. His defensiveness causes him to push away the only love interest he has in the movie. Even his daughter wants nothing to do with him, though it's suggested that the reason has something to do with him watching hockey on TV instead of taking her to real games (which he does at the end, in a kind of "see? This is how you get happy!" ending).The only resolutions he gets are to take his friend's body back to his homeland, where he can give his old girlfriend closure. He can see the tiny fish in the puddles in the surrounding grass that was somehow supposed to be a sign of hope, mentioned to him earlier in the film (though I don't understand why. The fish can't swim anywhere, because they aren't actually in a body of water, so… Doesn't that mean they die?). He takes his daughter to a real hockey game, which is, I guess, all she really needed from him, somehow? His semi-friend co-worker with an odd way of talking to people sets him up with a gig playing his guitar for kids, and everything is happy again with the world, him giving the weakest smile I have ever seen anyone give to the camera as he sits on his stool and holds his guitar.I hope this isn't some new concept in movies, where the protagonist gets screwed throughout the movie, and then at the end just smiles and shrugs his shoulders as we move to the credits. The suggestion, I guess, is that he wasn't living his life to the fullest, so going through this changes his mind, somehow… But nothing actually happens that is serious enough to suggest that.Nothing in this movie worked for me. It's not funny enough to make me really laugh. It's not charming enough to make me really feel the love. It's not dramatic enough to make me really feel any punch from any of the characters. And it's not meaningful enough to surpass its logical flaws with any real reason for a change of character.Define wonderful. Whatever you come up with, this film is not it.

Netflix is redefining my view of what a good film is, giving me the ability to find golden nuggets like Wonderful World. I'm not sure I would have found this one otherwise.I enjoyed the great character acting of Matthew Broderick and Sanaa Lathan, the occasional imagined appearance of "The Man" (Philip Baker Hall), and provocative insights from Ibu (Michael K. Williams) - a man who is central to the movie in a way I won't reveal to prevent a spoiler. Broderick plays Ben Singer who is the world's biggest cynic and ironically a man who had BEEN a semi-successful SINGER (I just caught on to the play on words). Broderick leads us through Singer's path of depression, despair, and emotionally draining cynicism while pausing frequently for hallucinations featuring "The Man"; presumably which are a result of some really good or really bad weed, depending on your perspective of what if anything makes weed good.This wasn't a film looking for an ending and didn't follow "film-making 101". Instead, it told a story. It had a great soundtrack that much like this film, was just too quiet to be a commercial success.Broderick has been in films that made him a household name most especially to my generation (I was inspired enough by War Games to become a programmer, which I have been for many years now). Although few people will watch this film because there isn't a big studio promoting it, this is the best acting I have seen from Broderick - even better than The Producers which he was a great performance. This was a different genre film so I wouldn't compare the two. It was produced and written by Joshua Goldin who was a writer in a 1992 movie Broderick was in called Out on a Limb. It must be interesting having written for the younger and older Broderick at two very different times in his career.Great job to the whole cast. I am trying to find the soundtrack so I can add it to my Pandora Queue. Great acting and great music.

I found this film to very well written and directed. The story is about the life we all lead and all its obstacles, which are superbly edited to show them to us, but not too grimly.It pats you on the back relatively quickly with elements that seem extraordinary but really are natural phenomenons and not to be taken seriously. It generously shows how seeing the world in such a way can impact harshly on you, but how you still learn from the experience.It grasps upon the warmth and clarity that can be gained from truly compatible relationships when looking at the world through these eyes, in this way, it presents a seek and you shall find attitude.The ending is... well when you find the end, there will be the beginning. One of my favorite films.

I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved this thoughtful drama. The cast is terrific, especially Matthew Broderick and Sanaa Lathan. Who knew Michael K. Williams (THE WIRE) could play a guy with such heart. I cared about every relationship in this film. It's not just a love story between Ben (Matthew Broderick) and Khadi (Sanaa Lathan). It's a story about how all the imperfect but human relationships in Ben's life (his daughter, his roommate) force him out of his protective, cynical shell. I won't spoil anything but I got definitely got teary eyed in parts. It's a subtle and moving film but thankfully there's some humor in it as well. It's a little gem.